


The Exception Proves the Rule

by BrandyThePirateKing



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, F/M, First Kiss, I made up some characters too, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 04:17:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18402950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrandyThePirateKing/pseuds/BrandyThePirateKing
Summary: You've been best friends since forever. He's seen you through a lot, especially your crush on Barbara. You've seen him as he's grown into a home wrecker. Let's be honest, maybe there's something here that neither of you should look to closely at.





	1. Seven Minutes

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully a slowburn fic that outlines my dreamscape about being Steve Harrington's best friend set mostly during the events of stranger things, with some obvious canon divergent elements.

You had always liked girls. There had always been something nagging in the front of your mind whenever Sarah Hemsworth twirled her hair while drawing factor trees in math, or whenever Josie Garland giggled quietly in a hushed tone trying to conceal a note Lynda Jenkins had passed her in poetry. Steve had caught on pretty quick. Surprisingly he had been really cool about it. It was your first secret he kept for you. His was that he was head over heels for Lynda at the moment. Before that it was Sarah. Before that, honestly Steve was upside down a lot. You two had been inseparable since the second grade. He lived right down the street, and during a game of kickball you’d nailed him in the face. In this moment he was currently blushing from his seat next to you, gazing wistfully at Lynda. She was throwing an end of eighth grade party tonight, and he was invited. Somehow, you were too.  
It had taken some convincing from him to go to this party. He was smitten, and he needed his wingman to be there. Truly, the deciding factor was that he had passed on that Barbara was thinking about attending, and honestly nothing had ever made your heart bunch up like the sight of Barbara Holland rolling her eyes at her best friend Nancy Wheeler. She was quiet in a stubborn way, while Nancy was quiet in a more shy way. Steve Harrington was loud, and always had been. He liked the attention. You, not so much.  
You’d always been the rough around the edges girl that swore in class on accident, and got above average test scores. You would have fit in with everyone else if you had been more into talking about the thing everyone talked about it seemed. 

A knock at your door interrupts the haze around you. It had been decided that you shouldn’t wear a dress, but some shorts and tights. Really, the height of middle school fashion. All day girls had been giggling about the idea of catching a snogging in a closet, or perhaps dancing with a far off crush. It had been fun to watch, but now that it was drawing nearer, it was nerve wracking. There could be spin the bottle, or worse. What if you had to kiss someone? What if you had to kiss a boy? Could you give up your first kiss to Tommy Ford, really? He scratched crude drawings into the history desks and spat spitballs at whoever had the misfortune of sitting in front of him. Was that worth it, your dignity for your reputation. There’d be no way you’d be kissing Barbara, so really, did it even matter?

Opening the door, you see your mom, and behind her Steve is downstairs with his hair slicked back. There is enough gel to slip in. Your mom snaps a polaroid of the two of you before you make the walk down the few blocks to Lynda’s house.  
Steve is practically bouncing, a spring in his step as you try to make small talk. There wasn’t much you two were missing. You whisper to him to not ditch you as you draw closer to the house. He wraps his pinkie around yours with a grin, and nods. It’s broken when he knocks on the door, and you both enter.  
The music in the house party is pretty loud for your standards. Most of the kids inside spare you a glance before going back to awkwardly standing in the corners of the room. No one's dancing. It’s just like a longer recess, except there’s no teacher coming to sound the bell to go back inside. Once Steve goes to talk to his guy friends, you decide to approach Nancy. Her arms are crossed across her chest, a pink skirt that you've never seen before flowing from side to side as she sways.  
“Barbara here with you?” You ask.  
“She didn’t want to come.” Nancy looks up at you before looking back down at the shag carpeting. She looks more uncomfortable than you.  
“I don’t blame her.” You start. Nancy looks up at you strangely, before shrugging her shoulders. Barb and you got each other, even if you only shared one class. Chemistry. You stand next to her for a while. Some more small talk is made. A few more classmates file in. You make up some boy crush to talk to her about. She emphatically expresses that she’s interested in someone here, but doesn’t give up the details. It’s not hard to tell, she keeps glancing at Tommy every few sentences. You try to sympathize, but he has a bowl cut and likes to spit on the sidewalk, so he’s pretty lame.  
Once the twenty or so people start dancing, you join in. Lynda is shifting her feet next to Sarah, and she looks like this is the most reckless thing she’s ever done in her life. How her parents agreed to this, you’ll never understand. It’s not a big house, the living room is pretty full, but not packed. Behind her there seems to be a corridor, and a few rooms. You don’t spot an adult the whole time you scan the place.

The party dies down. The twenty eighth graders that had come have almost all funneled out. Only a handful of girls, you and Steve, and Tommy are left. Lynda leads you all past the corridor pantry to her bedroom. There’s a pit in the bottom of your stomach before she even pulls out a bottle and places it on the floor.  
A girl from math class jumps up and says she has a curfew without even looking for a clock, and bolts out the door. Lynda chortles and calls her a sissy before sitting down.  
Before long spun and lands on Nancy. She bristles, and picks truth.  
“Who, do you like?” Lynda questions, never taking her eyes off her. Nancy gets physically uncomfortable, placing a hand onto one shoulder and avoiding her gaze.  
“Um. Tommy, I guess?” Quickly pulling an answer between her teeth. Tommy puts on a cheeky grin, looking down at his knuckles like he’s totally someone to write home about, and sends her a wink. There’s a collective murmur of excitement as the moment passes.  
Nancy spins the bottle and it lands on a girl from your chemistry class. She gets a truth, similarly boy related. It’s honestly pretty boring.  
The bottle goes around a few more times without landing on you, thank god. Then finally, your luck runs out. Tommy spins the bottle and it lands on you. You instinctively pick dare, and regret it immediately.  
“I dare you, to say who you like.” Its as dumb as the smirk on his face.  
“That’s what truth is for dumbass.” You curse. There’s a look of shock on Lynda’s face. Some egging on about the rules, and you acquiesce.  
“I think your mom is pretty hot.” You retort, spinning the bottle. It’s not a lie either, even though you didn’t pick truth in the first place.  
Fitting with the theme it lands back on Lynda. Steve leans forward a little bit. This goes on for a few more rounds. 

Then, the bottle lands on Steve.  
“Dare.” At first he looks ecstatic, then terrified.  
“Get in the closet. 7 minutes in Heaven.” Lynda orders. Steve gulps, eyes wide before he complies. You share a look with Nancy, then Lynda, then Sarah, before Lynda makes a face of disgust.  
“So who is taking one for the team. Nancy?” Lynda drawls out. Nancy reacts viscerally, putting her hands up. Trying to keep her voice down, she looks at Sarah.  
“No, you should do it.” She implores, gesturing to Sarah, who baulks, then points at Lynda.  
“You dared him, you should do it Lyn!” Lynda blushes in embarrassment. Tommy looks bored.  
“Tommy?” Lynda looks like she’s pleading for him to let her copy his test answers, like it would do her any good.  
“No! I’m like, a guy!” Tommy rolls his eyes. Everyone turns their heads back to look to Nancy. Before you realize what you’re doing, you speak up.  
“Jeez, all of you are babies!” You exclaim, before signing yourself up to mack on your best friend. It’s infuriating.  
Before you know it you’re being shoved into the closet by three giggling girls and a very bored pretend crush. 

It’s pitch black. Your palms are sweating. Half landing on Steve’s palm, you retract yourself to the opposite side of the closet before he can feel out that it’s you he’s trapped with for the next seven minutes. After a moment he attempts to figure it out.  
“Hi.” Steve whispers. He sounds so hopeful, and so damn jittery. You didn’t know that his voice could crack without being voiced.  
“Hey.” You hope to god he isn’t as disappointed as you are. Barbara isn’t here, you're in the dark, and you’re an awful wingman. You should have tried to urge Lynda in here.  
“Oh.” He lets out a sigh. It’s a little heart wrenching. It sounds like he stiffens up, a coat, you assume, rustling behind him.  
“We don’t have to…” He trails off. Disappointed.  
“Sorry.” You place your hand over his, finding it on the carpet between you. It’s the same shag throughout the house. He squeezes it for a moment. This is humiliating. Parties are for crushing your spirit and making bad decisions. For feeling things. This certainly is stirring up something for you. Maybe it was something you’d eaten earlier. Here you are, no first kiss had, no excitement, just annoying groups dynamics and a sad friend. There had to be a silver lining or something to this.  
The hell with it. What’s the whole point of being young if you don’t make a few missteps.  
“I’m gonna kiss you, if that’s alright.” You wobble out. Turning into his direction you lean forward a little, and squeeze his hand. The carpet underneath you feels way more scratchy as you readjust.  
“I- But you- Your my best friend!” He exclaims. He’s acutely aware that you aren’t into him. And you’re ninety percent sure he doesn’t hold a flame for you, but you’re friends, so it couldn’t hurt that much. You trust him the most out of anyone, and by how the past few years have been, the feeling is mutual. He probably hasn’t asked for a helping pair of lips before because he knows it would be weird under normal circumstances.  
“It’s a party. There’s a high probability that it’s gonna be weird anyway the first go round. Let’s be make out buddies for two minutes.”  
He sputters a little, before letting out a puff of air. You imagine that he’s putting his hand up to his brows, before making a rustling sound.  
He sits up a little straighter you think, so you do the same. His hand moves from underneath yours and places itself over top. It’s twenty times more sweaty than before. You take in a fistful of carpet with the other.  
“On three.” He whispers. You hum. Mind racing, you hope your mouth doesn’t taste awful.  
“One.” You lean forward a little further, hoping you don’t ram into his face with your teeth. Your legs itch through the tights.  
“Two.” He breathes it against you. He must be really close. Blood pumps into your ears. Is this normal? You close your eyes. This is the moment. This is actually gonna happen. Before he gets to three you lurch forward as he takes in a breath.

Kissing Steve is strange. He lets out a little squawk on impact. His lips are really soft, kind of like practice kissing a pillow, if pillows drooled. There is so much drool. It must be part of kissing. Swapping spit. Playing tonsil hockey. Snogging. It even sounds like a gross event. At first he freezes, but slowly he moves his lips like he’s trying to make a kissy face.  
He gently lifts his hand to your cheek, then traces it to your jaw, and brings you closer. There's a hint of romance to it. You think about kissing Barbara like this. That sends a chill down your spine, or maybe it’s the shag carpeting. When you part for air you feel a little weak for breath.  
“Wow.” Steve beams. You wipe the saliva from your lips before humming in agreement. You brush your nose against his, lips meeting again, before bursting into a fit of giggles.  
He joins in the laughing fit, before lightly punching your shoulder. 

All in all, not the worst way this could have panned out. When the door is finally opened, everyone feigns gasping, only to see the two of you playing rock paper scissors. He walks you home afterwards, a little bubblier than before. You feel a surge of warmth hit your cheeks as you wave goodbye to him, the dusk behind him a light purple. Your mom makes sure he gets home okay, and you go to bed.  
Kissing your best friend isn’t a bad option, you decide, as you lay in bed, looking up at the glow-in-the-dark star sticker clad ceiling. You wonder if it’ll be weird. If kissing girls is different. If it’ll make you like boys now. You don’t think it will.  
In short, for a first kiss, there could have been stranger things.


	2. The reason why pool noodles were invented

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is why its wise to always remember to come up for air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, kicking off stuff that could be in canon!

9/13/2018 I swear


End file.
